Key of Valor
Page 37

“Yes, that was part of it.” She linked her fingers, then pulled them apart. “It’s like another brick, Bradley, and I haven’t figured out if it’s like having that brick put down on a walk to give me a good, solid path or like having it mortared into a wall that’s closing me in.”
He stared at her, astonished fury pulsing around him. “Who’s trying to close you in? That’s a hell of a thing to put on me, Zoe.”
“It’s not you. It’s not about you. It’s about me. What I think, what I feel, what I do. And damn it, I can’t help it if it makes you mad that I have to decide if it’s a wall or a walk.”
“A wall or a walk,” he repeated, then took a slug of beer. “Christ, I actually understand that. I’d rather I didn’t.”
“It made me feel pushed, and I get mad when I’m pushed. It’s not your fault or your doing, but it doesn’t feel like it’s mine either. I guess I don’t like dealing with what’s not my fault or my doing.”
“He was a stupid son of a bitch for letting you go.”
She let out a sigh. “He didn’t let me go. He just didn’t hold on to me. And that stopped making me mad a long time ago.” She moved to the stove, took the lid off her pot. “There was something else that happened. I’m going to finish making this meal, and I’ll tell you and the others about it over dinner.”
“Zoe.” He touched her shoulder, then opened a cupboard to look for plates. “About those bricks? You can always knock a wall down, and build a nice walk out of it.”
THEY ate in the kitchen, crowded around the table, as the dining room was a long way from meeting Malory’s standards. Over beer and chili and hot bread, Zoe told them about what she’d seen in the steamy shower mirror and the range hood.
“I thought I imagined it the first time. It just seemed too strange not to be my imagination—and it was only for a couple of seconds. But today . . . I saw her,” Zoe confirmed. “I saw her where I should’ve been.”
“If Kane’s trying another angle,” Dana began, “I’m not following it.”
“It wasn’t Kane.” Zoe frowned down at her plate. “I don’t know how to explain how I’m so sure it wasn’t, except to say it didn’t feel like him. There’s a feeling when he touches you.”
She lifted her gaze, met Dana’s, then Malory’s for confirmation. “Maybe not as it’s happening, but after, and you know. It wasn’t from him. It was warm,” she continued. “Both times it was warm.”
“Rowena and Pitte may be adding a few flourishes.” Flynn spooned up more chili. “They said Kane had broken the rules with Dana and Jordan, so they compensated.”
“It may cost them,” Jordan added.
“It may. So it could be they’ve decided to compensate more. In-for-a-penny sort of thing.”
“Doesn’t play for me,” Bradley disagreed. “If they were going to go over the line again, this soon in Zoe’s quest, why not do something solid, something tangible? Why so cryptic?”
“I don’t think it was from them either.” Zoe pushed food around on her plate. “I think it was from her.”
“From Kyna?” Fascinated, Malory sat back. “But how? They’re powerless.”
“Maybe she is. We don’t know how all this works, really, but say she is. Her parents aren’t. I started thinking what if someone had Simon trapped somewhere? I would just about go crazy. If there was a way to get him out, I’d do anything I could.”
“It’s been three thousand years,” Flynn pointed out. “Why wait?”
“I know.” Zoe took a piece of bread, broke off a chunk. “But time’s different for them, right? Didn’t Rowena say that? And besides, maybe there wasn’t anything that could be done before this, before Kane changed things by spilling blood, mortal blood.”
“Keep going,” Jordan prompted when she stopped. “Spin it out.”
“Well. If Kane changed the nature of the spell by breaking the rules of it, and if that opened—well—like a chink in the curtain, wouldn’t loving parents try to send some light through that chink? They wanted me to see her. Not just in a painting but more personally.”
“To see her in you,” Bradley finished. “To look in the mirror, and see her in you.”
“Yes.” Zoe let out a relieved breath. “Yes, that’s how it feels to me. It’s like they wanted her to tell me something. She can’t just say, ‘Oh, Zoe, the key’s under the planter of geraniums on the porch,’ but it’s like she’s trying to show me something I have to do or somewhere I have to go to find it.”
“What was she wearing?”
“Jesus, Hawke.” Dana jabbed him hard.
“No, seriously, let’s look at the details. Was she dressed the way she is in the paintings?”
“Oh, I see.” Zoe pursed her lips. “No. She was wearing a short dress, dark green.” She closed her eyes to bring it back. “And boots. Brown boots that came right up to the knee. She had on the pendant, the one the legend says her father gave each of them, and this little headband, I guess they call it a circlet? A gold Wonder Woman sort of thing with a diamond-shaped jewel in the center. Dark green, like the dress. And the sword at her hip. Oh!”
Her eyes popped open again. “She had one of those . . .” Impatient with herself she waved a hand back between her shoulder blades. “Quivers. That’s what it is, the thing for arrows. And there was a bow strapped over her shoulder.”
“Sounds like the lady was going hunting,” Jordan concluded.
“Into the forest,” Zoe continued. “She took the path into the forest to hunt. A hunt’s like a quest.”
“Maybe the forest in the quest is more literal than we assumed,” Dana considered as she ate. “I’ll do some research on forests—books and paintings—as well as the local woods around the Valley. Something might pop.”
“If you can describe the scene to me, I can try to sketch it,” Malory suggested. “It might help for all of us to see it as you did.”
“All right.” Zoe gave a decisive nod. “That feels positive. It’s been like time slipping away from me, but this feels positive. She had such strong, sad eyes,” she said quietly. “I don’t know how I could live with myself if I didn’t help her.”